#TackleMyTBRChallenge – Cindy's Love Of Books

Review/ Night by Elie Wiesel

Posted on January 5, 2018February 1, 2018 by Cindy

Night (The Night Trilogy #1) by Elie Wiesel, Marion Wiesel
Published by Hill and Wang on January 16th 2006
Pages: 120
Goodreads

Born into a Jewish ghetto in Hungary, as a child, Elie Wiesel was sent to the Nazi concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald. This is his account of that atrocity: the ever-increasing horrors he endured, the loss of his family and his struggle to survive in a world that stripped him of humanity, dignity and faith. Describing in simple terms the tragic murder of a people from a survivor's perspective, Night is among the most personal, intimate and poignant of all accounts of the Holocaust. A compelling consideration of the darkest side of human nature and the enduring power of hope, it remains one of the most important works of the twentieth century.

New translation by Marion Wiesel, with a new introduction by Elie Wiesel.

I am a little embarrassed to say that this has been sitting in my TBR pile since 2006. I picked it up when Oprah announced her Oprah Selection and this was book 55. Not sure why I didn’t read it then but I think at the time I was just collecting books and not reading them. But 12 years later I am happy to say that I did haul this off my TBR pile and I read it.

After reading it I have to admit that I didn’t realize it was a trilogy. Here are the other books in the series:

I did manage to pick up these two with a gift card and plan on reading them this month so be sure to come back and check out my reviews for them.

I had no idea what I was going to read when I started this book because I avoided reading the back cover and I have to say that I am happy I didn’t read it because I don’t know if I would have read it otherwise or at least not at this point.

If your a reader of my blog you know that I don’t read a lot of non fiction so this is a first for me but hopefully not the last.

Night is a true story of what Elie endured during the Holocaust and his life at a concentration camp. This was definitely not a light read and at times I had to put the book down because I couldn’t imagine what it must have been like to live through that not knowing what was going to happen to you. It makes you wonder how a group of people literally could hate another group of people and think it was perfectly fine to kill them and treat them like they were nothing. It breaks my heart. Nothing those people did can justify why they needed to kill innocent people.

I struggled with a lot in this book and I think its was just wondering how people could do this to another living person. I think I went through a wide range of emotions at all the groups invovled. How could no one stand up for these people?

Elie realized at the age of 15 that he had to lie about his age in order to survive and you can see him struggle and survive all the way through the book. He witnessed so much that no one should have to witness or endure. You could see the determination in Elie and his determination not to give up. I am happy that Elie shared his story with the world as it needed to be told.

Elie was one of the few survivors of the Holocaust. His tale is gripping and heart breaking and one everyone should read. I have put this back on my book case to eventually reread one day or even if my son wants to read it its there for him to do so. This is one book that will stay with you.

Review/ Under Her Skin by Adriana Anders

Posted on January 4, 2018February 1, 2018 by Cindy

Under Her Skin (Blank Canvas, #1) by Adriana Anders
Published by Sourcebooks Casablanca on February 7th 2017
Pages: 344
Goodreads

Her Body is His Canvas

A darkly possessive relationship has left Uma alone and on the run. Beneath her drab clothing, she hides a terrible secret—proof of her abuse, tattooed onto her skin in a lurid reminder of everything she’s survived.
Caught between a brutal past and an uncertain future, Uma’s reluctant to bare herself to anyone…much less a rough ex-con whose rage drives him in ways she will never understand. But beneath his frightening exterior, Ivan is gentle. Warm. Compassionate. And just as determined to heal Uma’s broken heart as he is to destroy the monster who left his mark scrawled across the delicate tapestry of her skin.

Its not very often that I read a lot of romance books but when I do I seem to enjoy the ones I pick up and this was no exception. I first heard about Under Her Skin from a Sourcebooks Casablanca email last year and I instantly had to pick up the book because it sounded really good and I don’t know why at the time I didn’t read it once I had it but going into 2018 I said that this was going to be the year I read more of my own books so I am happy to say that I finally did take this off the TBR pile to read.

This was a super quick read and I practically read it in one sitting. I had a hard time to put the book down. This is the first book in what I think might be a trilogy although I could be mistaken. The other books in the series are:

Be sure to check back this month because I plan on reading the other two books this month.

This is Adriana’s debut novel. If this is any indication then the following books are going to be amazing and I can’t wait to continue this series.

Under Her Skin takes place in Blackwood, Virginia and its this tiny little town where everyone knows everyone and their business. Thankfully for Uma she plans to be in and out before her ex boyfriend finds her. She arrives a beaten down woman who trusts no one. On the outside she looks like a normal every day person but in the darkness of her room you see that she has been branded. Her body holds the scars and the torture she endured from her ex-boyfriend.

Uma is there because she heard about a doctor who runs a free clinic who can remove skin imperfections and she is hoping that the doctor will be able to help her so that at least on the outside she can be normal again or be able to look at herself without seeing that awful reminders of what she endured.

Knowing that staying in the town will cost her money she decides she needs a low key job and manages to find one being a housekeeper for an elderly lady, Mrs Lloyd. Mrs. Lloyd was fiesty and told it like it was with a deep dark past as well. She was the perfect match for Uma and Uma held her ground against her. It was nice to see that Uma could finally get through to Mrs Lloyd vise versa. As the story progressed you could understand where she was coming from. I think Mrs Lloyd was just what Uma needed because her own mother did nothing to help or protect her daughter.

Now enter the love interest because heck no romance book would be complete without one. In this case its a big burly guy named Ivan. He happens to live next door to Mrs. Lloyd’s. She tried hard to put up a barrier between them because the last thing she wanted was to be involved with anyone but gradually over time she realized there was something there and spending time with Ivan felt good. I loved how gentle Ivan was and how he let her set the pace. He was a complete gentleman. One I think anyone could fall for.

I am so excited to continue this series and to see what happens. Does it continue the Uma, Ivan storyline are will we get to see more of the side characters get more of a storyline such as George the dr, the sheriff, or even Jess.

I am still thinking about this book as I sit here and do this review and that says a lot about the book for me.

2018 Reading Challenges That I am Taking Part in

Posted on December 30, 2017January 12, 2018 by Cindy

If you are a reader of my blog you have read that I admit I suck at reading challenges numerous times over the course of my 9 years of blogging and I am not afraid to admit it. Although I think this upcoming year might be the year that I change that.

I found a few reading challenges that I think will work for me and I can overlap them all so that I won’t get overwhelmed in the end.

The reading challenges that I am doing in 2018 are:

The first one is The Blogger Shame Challenge that is being hosted over at The Herd Presents. If your a book blogger you know you have some review books sitting on your TBR that you haven’t read and there is no shame in that I have quite a few. You can read any format but they must be 4 months and older.

The second one is Try Something New Challenge and this is being hosted over at The Herd Presents as well. For this one you are basically going to be reading new to you books ie debut, first book in a series, genres, author, book format etc. This is another way to tackle that TBR pile.

I decided that I am going to do level 2 which is 11-20 books. If I do more that is great but for now I am keeping it at this level.

The third one is Tsundoku Bingo Winter 2018 Challenge that is being hosted over at The Broken Spine. Erica has come up with a new Bingo board every quarter of the year and its basically reading the books in your own TBR pile. This board is good from January to March. I am hoping to complete this board by the end of March.

Finally the last one I am doing is Tackle My TBR Challenge being hosted by Kimberly Faye Reads and all this one is is reading your own books that you have sitting on your own bookshelves. I am hoping to read at least 5 of my own books each month. Any amount I can take of my own shelves is good.

I somehow stumbled up another reading challenge called The 2018 Reading Challenge being hosted on the blog Modern Mrs Darcy and it seems really interesting. The goal is just to read amazing books and who doesn’t want to read amazing books in 2018? There is 12 categories and you read a book from each one. Sounds easy doesn’t it.

Finally the last challenge I am going to do is 2018 Picky Pledge Reading Challenge and its being hosted by Alexa from Alexa Loves Books and Hannah from So Obsessed With and this is just like the above one with 12 categories and you pick the books off your TBR shelf. I know I want to read my own books and I am worried I will get a little bored so I think this will be a fun way to add some variety to doing that.

What reading challenges are you doing in 2018?